Humiliation over restroom breaks

[wally's slave]

Humiliation over restroom breaks and female problems.

What is the name of your state?
Indiana

I work in retail as a cashier.
The Saturday before Valentine's Day I was working. I needed to use the restroom so I put the code into the register alerting a junior manager that I needed to use the restroom. We were very busy and I had to cancel the code several times because I would get customers in my line. About 30 minutes later I got the code to go through and a junior member of management approved me to leave my register.
An assistant manager saw me off of my register and, in front of customers and associates, ordered me back on my register. When I told her why I left the register, she told me to get back on my register immediately. I did as I was told and a customer went over and told that assistant that they were going to report her.
She went in the back and filed a report so that she would not get in trouble with her boss.
About 10 minutes later I was given permission to leave my register. When I came back to my register, I paged this assistant manager and asked her to call my extension. She decided to come over to my register. I wanted to go in the back and talk in private, but she decided that we could talk at my register. She very loudly told me in front of customers and other associates that I was never to leave my register without permission and that I was not a very worthy associate.
When I explained for about the third time that I did have permission through the palm pilot she decided to lay down a new rule.
Now cashiers can not leave their registers unless someone comes over to replace them.

Fast forward to last Saturday. I was on my menstrual cycle and it was a very busy day. I went to the restroom before my shift started and thought that I would be ok until my break. However, it is hard for pre-menopausal women to judge that. Unfortunately, 45 minutes into my shift I knew that I needed to get to the restroom quickly. I put the code into my register and got back a message that I needed to wait for a replacement. We were not too busy. 20 minutes later no replacement came. We were still not too busy so I put the code in again. By the time I got to the restroom, my jeans were ruined and I was humiliated.

Cashiers are the only associates who need to ask for restroom breaks. Anyone else can go at any time.

I talked to the store manager about the situation and she feels that the assistant manager and the store did nothing wrong.

I feel they owe me an apology, a new pair of jeans and need to rethink how they handle cashiers needing to use the restroom.

The store manager also says that they are not required to give us restroom breaks ever and they just do it to be courteous to the associates.

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

My response:

Thanks for the biology and physiology lesson.

Next time, use "Depends".

IAAL

 

[SuzieWahoozie]

Although I can certainly empathize with your plight, I can't see that anything illegal has happened here. Your employer is correct that legally they don't have to allow any employee to use the restroom. Of course, that's not a smart thing to do, but it is legal. They can also make different "potty rules" for cashiers. They can also change the rules anytime they want/need to do so.

Your situation is unfortunate, but not illegal. The assisitant manager is a big fat jerk, but that's not illegal either. No law says your boss has to be nice, compassionate, moral, or even sane.

You've exhausted your internal avenues and the boss doesn't want to compromise or work with you. You need to accept it and be sure you use the restroom every chance you get, even if you don't have to "go," or you need to seek a position elsewhere with a boss who is not a neanderthal.

 

[wally's slave]

Although I can certainly empathize with your plight, I can't see that anything illegal has happened here. Your employer is correct that legally they don't have to allow any employee to use the restroom. Of course, that's not a smart thing to do, but it is legal. They can also make different "potty rules" for cashiers. They can also change the rules anytime they want/need to do so.

Your situation is unfortunate, but not illegal. The assisitant manager is a big fat jerk, but that's not illegal either. No law says your boss has to be nice, compassionate, moral, or even sane.

You've exhausted your internal avenues and the boss doesn't want to compromise or work with you. You need to accept it and be sure you use the restroom every chance you get, even if you don't have to "go," or you need to seek a position elsewhere with a boss who is not a neanderthal.

I talked to OSHA yesterday and according to OSHA they have violated the law and my rights.

 

[Beth3]

OSHA regulations require an employer to provide reasonable access to restrooms.

P.S. Your jeans aren't ruined. All you need to do is wash them.